Destruction was everywhere.

The air itself cracked beneath the clash of spells, causing heat rolling outward like the fists of angry gods. Shards of stone rained down from above as the arena groaned and split apart under the strain. Kai could feel the wards failing, but he didn’t dare to look toward the stands. He couldn’t know if the people had escaped, if Killian and his men managed to carry out their tasks. Even if he looked away for a brief second; a small moment of distraction would mean giving Veridia the advantage. This entire fight was too close, too merciless, to afford him that.

So he forced himself to trust. To believe Killian and the others were handling what he could not.

But even as his body moved on instinct, his mind screamed doubt. He had come here to crush Veridia—to grind her pride into the dirt. Yet as fire and lightning howled between them, he couldn’t shake the thought that victory might not come so easily.

Yes, she bled. A line of crimson cut beneath her chin where his hidden arrow had slipped through—a flaming strike cast beneath the shell of a larger spell, a feint that had burned away part of her robes as it landed. The look on her face was priceless, but she was far from broken. Her stance stayed sharp, and her eyes, they were relentless, finding opportunities to get back at him though her body bore more wounds than his, she fought as though she had only just begun.

A rough snarl tore from her throat. Black magma surged from her hands, not in streams but tendrils, wriggling and splitting until they blanketed the entire sky. The temperature around it increased rapidly, and the world turned a crimson-black as they twisted to engulf him.

Kai didn’t slow, his form blurred as he darted through the gaps. Every movement was sharpened by desperation. The tendrils slammed into the earth and air alike, detonating with bursts of molten fire that painted the arena in ruin. Even as he twisted around them, the force of their eruptions hammered against his chest and shoulders. His armor screamed under the assault, causing layers of mana shielding to splinter apart faster than he could weave them. He gritted his teeth and reforged them again, again, never letting the flow falter. One heartbeat of hesitation and he would be ashes.

Veridia screamed in frustration as her eyes narrowed and she pressed harder. Her form flickered and then another appeared beside her. And another. Dozens of her illusions blooming across the arena like a mirage army. Their voices echoed, taunting, their shapes blurred into a storm of falsehoods.

Kai’s lips curled upwards.

Did she think him a novice? Did she think illusions would shake him again?

He raised his hands, and the sky answered.

Hundreds of lances formed overhead, fire blazing against ice, a storm of spears suspended like stars before they fell. He unleashed them all at once. Each bolt carved through the illusions, fire and frost tearing apart false bodies until only one remained.

Veridia’s glamour collapsed like shattered glass, her illusions stripped bare before his gaze.

Kai’s heart hammered, but his eyes were steady. Illusions. Always illusions. If she thought they would be his downfall, she was wrong. His master’s voice still lingered in his mind, old lessons carved deep into his bones. Illusions were one of the last things his master had taught him to be careful against.

And so he had.

Another of Veridia’s attacks sputtered out, the last shards of molten shadow dispersing into the air. She steadied herself, teeth gritted, sweat shining against her cheek. For a heartbeat the battlefield stilled—spells crackled and bled away, the world shivering under the residue of their clash.

Kai did not seize the opening. Instead of casting another deadly spell, he let only a single, thin strand of mana slip from the folds of his robes. It trickled down toward the fractured ground, making it seem indistinct, to draw notice amidst the ruin. His gaze never wavered from her.

“You’re quite a tough opponent,” Veridia admitted in a harsh voice, her sword still leveled at him.

Kai allowed the corner of his mouth to tilt. “I should say the same about you. You carry the most rare combination of elements I’ve ever seen. Fire, shadow, earth, lightning. You must have been very popular in the Tower in your youth.”

Her lips curved, even if the smile was jagged. “Mages back then feared shadows more than anything else. Even the thought unsettled them. They called me the Dark Mage especially because I used it the most.”

“It does have a night ring to it.”

“It does,” she agreed. “But do you know who ended those whispers? Who silenced every rumor and every boast they might have pinned to me?”

Kai gave a flat look. “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”

“It was your mother.”

She huffed. “She beat me every time we fought. Do you understand what I’m saying? Every. Single. Time. She had only a single element, but she was a battle genius. She used that one element she had, against me so well. No matter what combination I threw at her, she cut it apart as if it were nothing.”

Kai felt his chest clench at the memory of his battle with Valkyrie. “I can understand that. She certainly isn’t easy.”

At the way Kai responded, Veridia’s eyes gleamed. “You have fought her?” she demanded. “How?”

“I don’t have to tell you that,” Kai said evenly. “But is that why you hate her?”

“Hate?” Veridia scoffed, spitting the word like poison. “Hate is a tame word. No. I loathe her. She fought me with everything and then tried to call me friend. She said she wouldn’t hold back, that she wanted me to grow. All the while, she had everything I wanted. All the strength, all the recognition, all the victories. And then—” her voice cracked into a bitter laugh, “—then she went and crippled herself. Years later than she should have, but still. Reckless to the very end.”

Her sword trembled in her grip, though her eyes never left his. “And now you stand here—her son. At least the one in her son’s body. Reminding me of her with every damn move you make.”

Kai’s gaze hardened. “I don’t think what you did was anything less reckless. The city won’t be the same after today. Not after seeing this.” He gestured at the battlefield around them—cracks running through the arena walls, flames crawling along shattered stands, the very air trembling with residual mana. “After seeing what we’ve done here.”

“No, it won’t. But it will respect me more. Fear me more. And once I leave here with your body in my hands, that fear will last for generations.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Kai replied.

“Is that so? Tell me, how will you manage that? You have power, and spells I’ve never seen before… but you’re too simple in their use. Too obvious. Even now—” her gaze flicked downward, sharp and searching “—I see the summoning circle you’ve been weaving beneath us. It’s not going to work.”

The ground beneath Kai shuddered. A tower of magma burst upward in a sudden eruption, molten stone and fire tearing apart the faint lines of a circle carved into the cracked floor.

Kai darted back, his armor sizzling from the heat as he raised a warding hand. His lips twitched into a thin smile. “You’re perceptive… but not perceptive enough.”

Her brow furrowed at the words, then her head snapped around at the sound of a shallow, rasping cry behind her.

From the fractured ground, the air rippled, and a swarm of mangar drakes tore free of the veil between planes. Grade-three beasts, dragged from the Earthen plane, their bodies composed of serrated stone plates and glowing veins of mineral. Despite their rocky frames, they moved with eerie agility, wings of crystal and dust beating soundlessly as they hovered above the cracked arena floor. Their eyes were small, burning coals set deep in rough-hewn skulls.

They screeched again, a chorus that rumbled like boulders grinding against each other, and the swarm surged forward.

Veridia’s snarl cut through the air as lightning leapt from her sword, black bolts ripping through the first line of beasts. Shards of rock and crystal scattered as several plummeted, their stone shells shattering on impact. But still more came. One smashed into her shoulder, claws of obsidian raking against her robe, tearing fabric before she blasted it apart with a flare of shadow.

The creatures pressed closer, their rocky wings stirring a storm of dust, their jagged teeth snapping as they lunged.

Veridia’s eyes flared with fury. Mana roared through her body, and she thrust her hand outward. A searing orb of magma burst from her palm, expanding into a blazing tide. The wave engulfed the swarm, fire spilling over rock, molten heat reducing their bodies to cinders in an instant. Their screeches ended in crackling silence as ash rained down. For more chapters visit N0velFire.ɴet

Veridia turned back from the wall, sword raised to strike the summoning circle apart—only to freeze.

Kai was gone.

Her head snapped upward just in time to see him suspended above, his hands outstretched. Countless threads of flaming mana unraveled from his body, spiraling through the air. They lashed around her wrists, her shoulders, coiling tighter and tighter with every heartbeat.

Her teeth clenched as she fought them, veins erupted across her skin in shadow and lightning as she poured mana outward. But the bindings didn’t snap. She understood brute force wouldn’t be enough. Because they clung to her so tight that it resisted every surge of her strength.

With a growl, she thrust herself upward, wings of fire and shadow propelling her higher into the air, desperate to break free of his reach. Spells crackled from her hands, javelings of lightning, bolts of magma hurled at him in fury.

Kai twisted past each strike, his movements were sharp and measured, never faltering. Even as he dodged, a new spell bloomed between his palms, light swelling until it pulsed like a star.

“You won’t be able to run away,” he called in a steady voice despite the thunder of mana raging around them.

“Holding me won’t do anything!”

“The threads aren’t to hold you,” Kai replied.

Her eyes widened in a heartbeat of realization, but it was too late.

The bindings flared, every strand bursting outward in a violent detonation. Fire swallowed her, engulfing her body as the explosion thundered across the sky. The blast struck her face-on, her scream lost in the roar. Smoke curled around her form as she staggered, her body tumbling from the air before crashing hard against the fractured arena floor.

Kai’s hands moved as the second spell reached its peak.

“Astrum Marala Veral Extrago Lumen!”

He released it in a single motion—a projected beam of light, aimed right at her, cutting through the smoke. It struck true, where exactly he wanted—square in the chest, just over her heart.

There was no hole or seared flesh, only a faint ripple, almost invisible, then the sound of her choking. She gagged, coughing up dark blood. Her body convulsed violently, rolling across the scorched ground as she clawed at her chest. Confusion clouded her face, her lips trembling as she struggled to understand what had been done to her.

Kai hovered down slowly, his robes singed, his chest rising and falling with ragged breath.

He looked at her coldly, contempt lacing his features, though the effort of holding it steady made his muscles ache.

Inside, he felt the truth clawing at him—he was spent. The summoning, the threads, the final strike… each one had stripped him bare. His core trembled, his mana reserves drained to their dregs. If he tried to muster more, his body might well break before his spell did.

He still kept his expression composed, his eyes locked on Verdia writhing at his feet. He could not let her see how close he was to collapse.

As Kai descended, Veridia’s hand twitched upward, trembling but determined, structure of a new spell half-forming in the air. For a heartbeat, Kai thought she might succeed, but then her body convulsed. The half-woven spell shattered like glass, and she writhed against the scorched ground, her eyes blazing with pain and fury.

Kai met her gaze and saw the unspoken question burning there. He let his voice carry the answer.

“I cracked your Mana heart.” His tone was low, flat, as if admitting a grim inevitability. “It’s a spell I don’t use often. Takes too much. I had to build it half in my mind through the fight—it’s that complex. But… it was easier to land than I expected.”

Veridia’s pupils shrank. She coughed up another dark stream of blood, her voice breaking as she gasped, “That’s… impossible. You can’t do that. Not without destroying everything else in me.”

“Trust me,” Kai replied, stepping closer, his shadow falling over her trembling frame. “There’s a spell for everything. And don’t try anything more. You know what happens if you force your mana against a fractured heart.” His eyes glinted, steady even through the exhaustion in his limbs. “It’ll only worsen. You already know there’s no way out of this.”

Her trembling lips curled back in a bloody snarl, but she could not deny it.

Kai’s gaze drifted from her, sweeping the arena. The destruction spread in every direction—the shattered walls, collapsed stands, flames licking hungrily at rubble. Smoke and ash clung to the air like mourning shrouds. Not a single spectator remained. Only the two of them. Two Mages in a graveyard of stone and fire.

His voice cut through the silence. “I believe that means I win this.”

Veridia gasped. More blood trickled past her lips as she forced her head up, eyes burning holes into him. “You haven’t.”

A faint spark of mana flickered at her fingertips, and her defiance refused to die even now. But the attempt backfired instantly. Her body convulsed, pain ripping through her as the spark fizzled, leaving her shuddering in agony.

“Please don’t do that,” Kai said softly. His voice was weary now, edged more with honesty than contempt. “I’d rather people not think I killed you. Though…” he let his gaze linger on her, “…I suppose fracturing your Mana heart is close enough.”

Without another word, he turned away.

His body screamed in pain with every step he took, the toll of every spell gnawing at his bones and veins. Every movement sent fresh needles of agony lancing through his heart, but he refused to stumble. Not here, especially not with Veridia watching.

He pressed forward toward the broken archway of the arena, the battlefield groaning behind him. Veridia’s labored breaths echoed faintly in the silence, but he did not look back.

He didn’t need to. She would not be rising again. He had to focus on himself before he collapsed.

Even if he didn’t look too injured, Kai could feel it—dozens of shallow cuts stinging across his skin, burns hidden beneath the tatters of his robes. His armor was worthless now, warped and scorched until it clung to him like dead weight. The fabric of his robe hung in strips, torn open in so many places that he wondered if it was even possible to stitch it back together.

Despite everything, he had won. That truth alone pushed his legs onward.

The arena had ceased to be an arena. Holes gaped wide through its walls, yawning craters clawed through the stands. He didn’t even need to find a gate. There were breaches everywhere, torn open by their clash. Kai almost laughed to himself at the absurdity of it. How is this ruin still standing at all? Another thought cut through the haze, Am I going to be the one footing the bill for this? He hoped not.

Finally, he stepped beyond the rubble.

And froze.

The city was waiting for him.

Hundreds of faces turned as one. Commoners crowded the streets, merchants pressed shoulder to shoulder with guards, and even the nobles stood among them, their finery ash-streaked but their eyes fixed on him. None had left. They must have scattered at first, but once the storm of spells ended, they returned to see with their own eyes what remained.

The silence pressed in, heavy and suffocating, broken only by whispers that rippled outward like waves.

“Is that him?”

“He’s alive…”

“Gods above, what did they do in there?”

Kai ignored the chatter. He kept walking, his pace steady, though each step jarred pain through his ribs and legs. The weight of their gazes was heavier than stone, but he refused to stumble.

Movement in the crowd caught his eye. Killian was pushing through, Francis beside him, their faces carved with worry. A handful of the others trailed them, their expressions a mixture of exhaustion, relief, and disbelief. They rushed toward him, weapons drawn as if expecting danger even now.

Kai stopped, waiting as they closed the distance. His chest ached, his limbs threatened to give, but he would not let them see him falter.

When they finally reached him, Francis’s voice cracked with urgency. “Lord Arzan, are you all right?”

Kai gave a single, short nod. “I’m.”

And though his body threatened to betray him, his eyes stayed hard, unyielding as if nothing had touched him at all.

Kai stood there a moment longer, breath uneven, then let out a thin exhale.

“…I exhausted all my mana. It’s pretty hard to walk. But…” his lips twitched faintly, “I doubt I’ll look even half as cool if I lose consciousness right now.”

Leopold chuckled, the sound tired but genuine. “Cool enough? You destroyed the arena, Arzan. I’d say that’s more than enough for today. The effect this will have…” his gaze swept toward the crowd, then to the nobles and princes lingering at the edges, “especially on them—it’s beyond anything I can predict.”

He hesitated, lowering his voice. “What of Magus Veridia? Is she—”

Kai shook his head before the thought could finish. “No. She’s alive. Just… in need of a lot of rest.” His eyes hardened faintly. “I suppose that means I won.”

The words left him, but another wave of fatigue swept in immediately after. His knees nearly gave, the ground tilting beneath him until Killian caught his arm with a sharp, “Lord Arzan!”

Kai grit his teeth, forcing himself upright. “It’s okay,” he muttered. “I’m just tired. We can talk later. Right now, I just want… a bed.”

The group exchanged quick, worried glances, but no one argued. Together they began moving through the street, Killian steadying him at his side.

And as they walked, the crowd parted without a word.

***

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